Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Melissa Champion. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Melissa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I think I always wanted to do something creative, though I never could put a finger on what that was. My path has been split and winding into multiple directions, but always comes back to my creative base.

I went to school as a business major, and switched to photography and graphic design within the first semester. I love the capacity for multiple answers and possibilities in the creative space. My mind has never really fit within the norm in terms of linear thinking, and I think I realized when I was 18 that I needed creativity to be a large part of my life.

As I graduated though, I worked in marketing. I think back then I wasn’t sure I could be creative and make money at the same time. I always enjoyed the creativity of helping businesses to grow, but still felt that I was missing a creative outlet. I always felt photography was more of my calling, and began my own business, Green Lily Photography right around the same time. I’ve since expanded that into MC Media, which is my company today.

I also found my way into teaching art in my late 20’s. As my day job, I have been teaching photography, graphic design and drawing the last 18 years. In conjunction, I have run my photo business and recently branched out into the world of social media management and PR. It’s an avenue I have been exploring and am excited to expand that further.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My Name is Melissa Champion and I am the owner of MC Media. I specialize in commercial photography, and have recently branched out into Social Media and PR.

I have been in the creative industry for 20 years, and have enjoyed all of the avenues and challenges that It brings. I started photographing music and portraits right after graduating college, and have expanded over the years to photographing anything from weddings, to fashion, to food.

My primary body of work lately has been commercial food as well as portraiture. I have recently also begun creating social media content and PR for clients, this is a new avenue that I am increasingly excited about and proud of.

My current services are photography, social media content and PR packages for small businesses. My goals are always to bring the clients vision to light, whether that is a portrait or product shoot. I enjoy finding avenues to express myself, as well as enhancing and fulfilling the visions of my clients.

I feel that I can be set apart from the crowd in that I am always contently learning, and with my teaching background I have skills to work with a wide variety of clients as well as having a multitude of experience in different creative arenas.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think society would benefit greatly from celebrating promoting creative avenues and creative careers. I live in Denver, where creative careers are the 4th largest job market in the city, but those careers are still seen as few and far between. I think as a society we still downplay creative careers and avenues as creating “starving artists” or not being avenues where one can make a living.

Because I also still work in education along with my creative business outside, I still see first hand how little society values creativity. While not every person will become a creative, as people we thrive in creative environments. Creativity is the good part of life, and I hope that we can realize it has place in life regardless of whether it becomes a career or an integral part of your humanity and happiness.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think one mission I have is to continue to grow in my creative self, as well as to embrace all of the opportunities and avenues that come my way. I have been lucky to work with industry/educational creatives along with students throughout my career and know that I would have been lacking in creative fulfillment had I not.

I still spent a great deal of time when I was younger feeling like I needed to fit in, or meet a status quo though, so as I age and embrace new parts of my own creativity. I would love to show others that you will flourish as you begin to say yes to the quirky parts of yourself that set you apart. Fitting in comes when you are more authentic to yourself, and those people you are looking for will find you.

I also would love to show people that it is ok to fail forward, and that taking on new things will only make you grow creatively.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://greenlilyphotography.zenfolio.com
• Instagram: @mcmediadenver
• Facebook: MC Media

Image Credits

The two of me were taken by a friend, Jenn Mena Wenstrom (the two live action shots)
The rest are all credited to me Melissa Champion. Model releases are held for all images of models.